2 Kings 3:19

2Ki 3:19 And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

Ver. 19. And ye shall smite every fenced city.] Omnia anathemati devovebitis. Spoiling Moab shall be utterly spoiled. {Isa 33:1}

And mar every good piece of land,] Heb., Grieve or afflict; Nam lapides sunt quaedam pestes agrorum.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 3:19. Ye shall smite, &c. — If this command seem severe, it must be considered that the Moabites were a very wicked people, perfidious, cruel, and implacable enemies to God’s people upon all occasions, and now in a state of rebellion. But these words are rather to be considered as a prediction of their success, than as a command, enjoining them to do all these things; and thus understood, they imply that their victory should be so full and complete, that they should have it in their power to lay the country of the Moabites waste with fire and sword.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Though God bestow his benefits for a time upon the enemies, yet he hath his seasons, when he will take them away to the intent they might see his vengeance which is prepared against them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 19. Shall fell every good tree] Every tree by which your enemies may serve themselves for fortifications, c. But surely fruit trees are not intended here for this was positively against the law of God, De 20:19-20: "When thou shalt besiege a city - thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof - for the tree of the field is man's life - only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down."

Stop all wells of water] In those hot countries this would lead sooner than any thing else to reduce an enemy.

Mar every good piece of land with stones.] Such a multitude of men, each throwing a stone on a good field as they passed, would completely destroy it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) And ye shall smite . . . shall fell . . .—These verbs are continuative of those in the last verse, i.e., they do not command a course of action, but foretell it. (Comp. 2Ki_8:12-13.) Taken as commands, they appear to conflict with Deu_20:19, where the felling of an enemy’s fruit trees for the purposes of siege-works is forbidden. Keil, however, explains that the law relates to Canaanite territory which the Israelites were to occupy, whereas Moab’s was an enemy’s country, and therefore not to be spared.

Fenced city . . . choice city.—There is a paronomasia, or play on words of similar sound, in the Hebrew: ‘îr mibçâr . . . ‘îr mibhôr.

Every good tree—i.e., fruit-bearing trees.

Stop.—Gen_26:15; Gen_26:18.

Mar.—Literally, make to grieve: a poetical expression. An unfruitful land is said to mourn (Isa_24:4; Jer_12:4).

Every good piece of land.—All the good demesne (literally, portion, allotment).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. and shall fell every good tree] Some persons have seen in Elisha’s language here a contradiction to Deu_20:19, where in the siege of a city the Israelites are forbidden to cut down the fruit trees. But in that place the reference is to the trees of Canaan, where the people were themselves to settle and live. The land of Moab was not to be occupied by them, therefore they were bidden to destroy everything in it. In Deuteronomy it is expressly said, ‘Thou shalt not destroy them, for thou mayest eat of them’.

stop all wells [R.V. fountains] of water] As water in the east is mostly reached by digging, what is here meant is that all such places should be filled up, so that the work of obtaining water might have all to be done over again. The R.V. gives ‘fountains’ in verse 25 also.

mar every good piece of land] The verb, when used elsewhere, signifies ‘to give, or have, pain’. So Job_5:18, ‘He maketh sore’. Eze_13:22, ‘I have not made sad’. The LXX. translates here, ‘ye shall render useless’. The expression is somewhat poetical, representing the land as mourning because it is rendered unfruitful. But a similar figure, though not the same word, is found Jer_12:4, ‘How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither?’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they rose up early in the morning,.... To watch the motions of their enemies, and be upon their guard against them:

and the sun shone upon the water; with which the valley was filled:

and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood; so it appeared through the rays of the sun reflected on it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ye shall fell every good tree - This is not an infringement of the rule laid down in Deu 20:19-20. The Israelites were not forbidden to fell the fruit trees in an enemy’s country, as a part of the ravage of war, when they had no thoughts of occupying the country. The plan of thus injuring an enemy was probably in general use among the nations of these parts at the time. We see the destruction represented frequently on the Assyrian monuments and mentioned in the inscriptions of Egypt.

And stop all wells of water - The stoppage of wells was a common feature of ancient, and especially Oriental, warfare (compare Gen 26:15-18).

Mar ... with stones - The exact converse of that suggested in Isa 5:2. The land in and about Palestine is so stony that the first work of the cultivator is to collect the surface stones together into heaps. An army marching through a land could easily undo this work, dispersing the stones thus gathered, and spreading them once more over the fields.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Tree. This was an exception from the general law; (Deuteronomy xx. 19.; Calmet) or it might only regard the land of Chanaan, which the Hebrews should occupy. (Menochius) (Worthington) --- Stones, which had been gathered off into heaps, Isaias v. 1. Persius calls a field thus cleared, Exossatus ager; (Calmet) as if the bones were taken out. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This is either, first, A command; and then the last clause is an exception from that law, Deu 20:19, which being delivered by a prophet, might be obeyed. And if this command seem severe, it must be considered that the Moabites were a very wicked people, perfidious, cruel, implacable enemies to God’s people upon all occasions, and now in a state of rebellion. Or rather, secondly, A prediction of their success, that they should have so full and complete a victory, that they should be able to do all which is here expressed.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Fell every good tree — This is by no means a mere prophecy, as Wordsworth says; a simple prediction of what the allied armies would inflict on Moab; but a command as plain and positive as that by which he had formerly authorized the destruction of the idolatrous Canaanites. So utter a destruction of the Moabites did the Lord now authorize that he even suspended the law of Deu_20:19, which forbade the destruction of the fruit-trees of the enemy. The Israelites were not to occupy the land of Moab, as they did the land of the Canaanites, and therefore they had no need to spare the fruit-trees for their own use. But this felling of the good trees would be to the surviving Moabites a memorable woe. Their ruined cities they might speedily rebuild, and unstop their wells, or dig new ones, and clear the land of stones, but years must pass before new fruit-trees could be reared.

Mar… land with stones — Literally, Grieve the land. That is, afflict, disfigure, and injure the land by casting stones upon it so as to make it sterile. A vast host like that led by these three kings could speedily cover a field with stones.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city. The LXX omit the second clause, perhaps because they could not reproduce in Greek the assonance of the Hebrew, where the words for "fenced" and "choice" (rxbmi and rwOjbmi) have nearly the same sound. And shall fell every good tree. It has been said that the Law forbade this, and argued

(1) that Elisha did not here utter a command, but only a prediction (Pool), not bidding the Israelites to cut down the trees, but only telling them they would do so;

(2) that Elisha intentionally excepted the Moabites from the merciful provision of the Law, (Deu_20:19, Deu_20:20) having authority to do so, and regarding the Moabites as exceptionally wicked (Keil); and

(3) that the Mosaic Law was not observed under the kings, and that Elisha himself had forgotten the provision about fruit trees (Geddes).

But a careful examination of the passage in Deuteronomy will show

(1) that there is no general prohibition of the cutting down of fruit trees, but only a prohibition of their being cut down for siege works;

(2) that the prohibition rests on prudential, not on moral, grounds, and is thus practically limited to eases where the conquest of the country attacked, and its occupation by the conquerors, are looked forward to. The words are, "When thou shalt besiege a city.... thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them." The destruction of the fruit trees in an enemy"s country was a common feature of the wars of the period, and was largely practiced, both By the Assyrians and the Egyptians (see Layard"s "Monuments of Nineveh," first series, p. 73; second series, pl. 40; "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 588; and "Records of the Past," vol. 2. pp. 5, 51, etc.). And stop all wells of water. The stoppage of springs and wells was another common practice in ancient times, often employed against enemies and aliens. The Philistines stopped the Hebrew wells in the days of Isaac. (Gen_26:18) Hezekiah stopped the springs of water outside Jerusalem, when he expected to be besieged By the Assyrians. (2Ch_32:3, 2Ch_32:4) The Scythians, when Darius invaded their country, stopped all their own wells as they retired before him (Herod., 4:120). Arsaces III partly stopped, and partly poi-ached, the Persian wells in his war with Antiochus the Great (Polyb., 10:28. The practice was regarded as quite legitimate. And mar every good piece of land with stones; literally, grieve every good piece of land. To clear the stones off a piece of ground was the first step towards preparing it for cultivation in the stony regions on either side of the Jordan. The clearance was generally effected by collecting the stones into heaps. When it was wished to "mar the land," the stones were there to be spread over it afresh.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall smite - And if this command seem severe, it must be considered, that the Moabites were a very wicked people, perfidious, cruel, implacable enemies to God's people upon all occasions, and now in a state of rebellion.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And every valuable tree you will chop down. Even though it is stated, “Do not harm any of its trees,” here He permitted it for you, for this is a contemptible and insignificant nation before Him. And so Scripture states, “You shall not pursue their peace and their benefit,” [i.e.,] these are the good trees that are among them.

Fertile field. Sown field, koumici, in O.F.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.